Lessons from Dying Men - The Crucifixion of Jesus and the Two Criminals

Today's Reading:

• Luke 22:54 - 23:43

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Luke 22:54 - 23:43
Today's reading is some of the most difficult parts of the bible to read, as our Savior is tortured and unfairly condemned to die, and ridiculed by the masses.  Jesus is brought before Pilate, the governor of Rome.  It appears that Pilate is a fair judge, for he finds no reason that Jesus should be sentenced to die.  Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who found the same and sent him back to Pilate.  Pilate argued with the crowd that Jesus should not die, yet the crowd insisted on Jesus being crucified. Pilate finally gives up and sentences Jesus to death, for he could not prevail against an angry mob that was determined to destroy.

It used to really trouble and confuse me to understand how an entire crowd of people could viciously insist on crucifying and innocent man.  That confusion was before today's global drive to bring people down and destroy their lives.  No longer are we allowed to make simple mistakes - even as children. It feels like reason has left the world, as people endeavor not only to  destroy the life of someone they disagree with, but to hunt out reasons to be offended and to destroy.  They appear to gain an inner pleasure for each person they take down.  These targeted people are ridiculed all over the internet, picked up by national news, until their face and supposed crime are everywhere.  Companies and employers feel compelled to act - to give people what they want by firing someone for something completely unrelated to work - in order to remain favorable in the people's eyes.  Even Christians attack other Christians for holding onto bible-based beliefs that the world is trying to deter and desensitize us from.  The world feels lost, it feels like it is spinning out of control, while the Lord looks down in sadness of what we have become.  Destroy, sabotage, kill - that is the goal of the world.  There is no longer any doubt that Satan's hand is at large in this world. 

This is paralleled even as Jesus hung on the cross. Jesus hung between two criminals who had been sentenced to death for their crimes. One criminal, even as he hung there under his own sin - a sin worthy of death - ridiculed Jesus! I find this truly preposterous. This man committed crimes so severe that he deserved death, yet even as he was literally dying, he still ridiculed the righteous man, the man who deserved none of this, yet bore it all for people like that criminal. 

The other crucified criminal came to Jesus's defense; he told the other criminal that they deserved to die, yet Jesus did not.  This man asked Jesus to remember him as he came into His kingdom, and Jesus did. Jesus said "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) Even though this man was a criminal, deserving of death, still Jesus welcomed the man into His kingdom, even though the man did not ask until he hung dying on a cross. Jesus is merciful. His mercy extends our understanding completely. We want to hang on, we want to say "Wait! This is not fair! This man never even knew you, he didn't live for you, yet minutes before his death, still you forgive him and welcome him into your kingdom?! It is ours, it is not for people like him." Even those who truly try to live a righteous life - to understand God - cannot comprehend the mercy and the love the Lord has for us.

We all deserve to be hanging on that cross.  We have all sinned, we have all fallen. We are not perfect. The only person in the entire existence of this world who did not deserve to be on that cross was Jesus himself, yet that is exactly why Jesus hung there.  As everyone surrounding Jesus ridiculed Him - as they insisted that if He really were the Messiah, He would not remain hanging there - they lacked understanding.  Jesus was fulfilling His plan for the world - His plan to place himself on that cross for US. For you and me.  For every single person of this earth.  We are not worthy.  We are not even close to worthy!  Jesus died for US - He took our place on the cross, and all you have to do to take it is to truly believe in your heart and ask Jesus.  There's no official prayer. The prayer is in the devotion within your heart. All the second criminal said was "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom" (Luke 23:42) and he was saved. The criminal believed and confessed that Jesus is Lord with that simple statement, and even on his death bed, Jesus welcomed him with open arms. It is never too late -- until you are dead. Many of us do not know when we are on our deathbed. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, nor is there a guarantee that you have that last moment to ask Jesus for forgiveness. So ask it now. Don't let it be too late. Become part of the light of the world, instead of adding to the darkness. Become a beautiful, shining beacon for the Lord. Cut through the darkness.

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, According to the Gospel of Mark

Today's Reading:

• Mark 15:1 - 47
  
• Psalm 54:1 - 7

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Mark 15:1 - 47
Jesus was brought before Pilate for permission to be executed.  Pilate could find no fault with Jesus -- Jesus was not a threat to the government, just to the Jewish leaders.  Pilate tried to get the people to release Jesus as the prisoner to be released for Passover, but the people were too riled up by the Jewish leaders to allow that.  Finally, Pilate ordered that Jesus be whipped and then crucified.

Jesus was flogged and mocked.  The guards dressed him in a purple robe and put a crown woven of thorns on top his head.  They pretended to bow to him while at the same time beating him.  Finally the time came for Jesus to be brought to the site of the crucifixion, but by then he was unable to carry his own cross, and a man named Simon was pulled from the crowd to carry it for Jesus.

The time for the crucifixion came.  Jesus was offered wine that was drugged with myrrh but denied it.  He was nailed to the cross at 9 in the morning. Two men, on on each side of Jesus, were crucified at the same time.  The crowd taunted Jesus as he hung there.  Worse, the men on each side of Jesus also taunted him.  It's hard to imagine a crowd around you taunting you as you were dying, how horrible that would feel.  But then to have two people, who were also being put to death in the exact same manner, taunt you also is even worse.  Even in death, those men mocked Jesus and thought they were better than he.

From noon until three darkness covered the entire land and Jesus uttered his last words and took his last breaths at 3:00 pm.  As he died, the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  The guard in charge of watching Jesus then declared that truly, Jesus was the son of God (15:39).

 In Matthew's account of the crucifixion, far more detail was given about what happened when Jesus died.  We were told not only about the curtain, but about the earth shaking, tombs being split apart, and how bodies of godly men and women were raised from the dead (Matthew 51:53).  I was hoping for more detail on those things but didn't get it in this account.  Regardless, for that guard to exclaim that Jesus truly was the son of God after seeing him die, something visible to him (such as earth shaking, etc) had to have happened.

So once again I read about the crucifixion of Jesus, and as I have said before, it pains me to even have to read about it, but the burden that Jesus Christ carried that day was far worse than my small discomfort.  I can't wait until my next reading in Mark -- the resurrection!  I am hoping there is more detail in the resurrection in this account than I got in Matthew's account.  And thank you, Jesus, for dying for MY sins, and for the sins of all, though you knew no sin.

Psalm 54:1 - 7
In this psalm, David's location has been betrayed to his enemies.  David cries out for justice against them, that their evil plans be used against them.  Then David turns to praise for the Lord in anticipation of the Lord's triumph over David's enemies (54:6 -7):

I will sacrifice a voluntary offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.  For you have rescued me from my troubles and helped me to triumph over my enemies.

What I love about those verses is the complete faith David had.  The Lord hadn't rescued him yet, but still, David had absolute faith that the Lord would rescue him, and praised the Lord in advance of his rescue.  David's faith is a beautiful thing, a perfect reminder that just because the Lord hasn't answered our prayers yet, it does not mean that He won't.  It doesn't mean He has forgotten or forsaken us.  So instead we should faith in the Lord in advance of the answer -- and praise Him accordingly.